Schilling Almost As Thrilling With His Bat As With His Arm * He Fans 10, Allows 2 Hits, Goes The Distance And Also Drops Down A Surprise Rbi Bunt.

June 18, 1998|by MONICA DEEB, The Morning Call

The 10 strikeouts, the complete game and the two hits allowed were pretty typical of a Curt Schilling outing.

But the Phillies received a bonus from their ace in Wednesday afternoon's Businessperson's Special.

Schilling's surprise bunt in the bottom of the sixth inning scored Bobby Abreu and helped the Phils sweep the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 3-1 win in front of 25,694 fans at Veterans Stadium.

"That was our best shot to get a run," said Schilling, who has just three hits this season.

Schilling might be an awful hitter -- he admitted so -- but hitting isn't what he's paid millions to do. Though his record sits at just 7-7, Schilling leads the majors with 157 strikeouts, 123-2/3 innings pitched and seven complete games.

And after allowing just a solo home run to Jason Kendall, Schilling lowered his earned run average to 2.49. Still, run support continues to be a problem for Schilling.

With a chance to build on a 2-1 lead, Schilling came through in Philadelphia's fifth victory in six games and eighth in its last 12. The win also gave the Phils their first three-game sweep of Pittsburgh since July 1995 and put them at .500 (34-34) for the first time since May 28.

Schilling took starting pitcher Francisco Cordova's first pitch and bunted it toward third base. Aramis Ramirez charged but couldn't handle the ball cleanly as Schilling lumbered for the infield single.

"I noticed Ramirez was back, and Cordova threw the ball right over the plate," Schilling said.

The rally started with a one-out double by Abreu, who reached third when Mark Lewis flied out. Schilling came to the plate after Desi Relaford was intentionally walked.

"Nobody believed he would bunt there," said Ramirez, who's just 19 years old.

The Phillies never trailed in the game but squandered a number of excellent scoring chances. They had a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the first inning and came up with nothing. Four innings later, the Phils had guys on the corners with nobody out yet didn't score.

"That's very uncharacteristic of this club lately," Philly left fielder Gregg Jefferies said.

The Phils entered the game batting .293 with runners in scoring position to lead the National League. Jefferies, Abreu, Rico Brogna, Scott Rolen and Doug Glanville are hitting more than .335 in those situations.

Of that group, just Rolen managed an RBI in the win.

Jefferies and Glanville made plenty of noise with their bats, however. Jefferies reached base all four times he was up and finished with a double and two singles.

And Glanville continued his amazing year with two more hits to become the first player in the majors to reach 100 hits this season. He also extended his hitting streak to 17 games, the longest active streak in the majors.

"I'm not missing a lot of pitches," said Glanville, who has already had 18-game and 14-game hitting streaks and is batting .334.

As for Jefferies, he increased his average to .319.

"And I don't like playing day games; I'm not a morning person," Jefferies said.

Neither is Schilling, but he looked comfortable all game long. He struck out 10 batters for the 10th time this season and 39th time of his career.

And Schilling was one of the few Phillies to get a decent amount of sleep Tuesday night. While his teammates battled the Pirates till close to midnight, Schilling was home watching the contest on television.

"What an ending," Schilling said.

Schilling was referring to Philly's 8-7 victory, which ended on a Mike Lieberthal three-run home run. The Phils scored seven runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Pirates. Many people woke up Wednesday morning assuming the Pirates had won.

"It was awesome," Jefferies said.

Despite the first-inning scoring opportunity on Wednesday, the Phils grabbed the lead for good in the third. After Jefferies doubled, Rolen fouled off several pitches before sending a shallow fly ball to right.

Jose Guillen charged to make the catch but came up short and the ball got behind him. Jefferies scored easily and Rolen ended up at third with a triple, though he thought about trying for an inside-the-park home run. He scored a batter later on a Lieberthal sacrifice fly.

But Rolen still is awaiting word if he'll receive a suspension for his actions Tuesday night. He was tossed from the game after arguing a third strike and was chest-to-chest with home plate umpire Greg Gibson.

"I don't know how efficiently things work at the league office," Rolen said. "I was a lot more relaxed today and enjoyed being on the field."

Kendall finished with both hits for the Pirates (34-37). His home run to left field came in the top of the fourth.

"I accidentally hit a good pitch with a good swing," said Kendall, with a laugh.

Pittsburgh, which has dropped five of six games, heads to Milwaukee for a four-game series. The Phils are off to Chicago for a four-game series with the Cubs beginning this afternoon.

DRAFT NEWS -- Six more Phillies draftees were signed this week by Mike Arbuckle, director of scouting.

Reporting to the Batavia Muckdogs in the New York-Penn League are pitcher Greg Kubes (14th round), pitcher Geoff Geary (15th) and second baseman Wes Rachels (33rd).

Rachels was the Most Outstanding Player in the College World Series this month after garnering a CWS-record seven RBI in USC's 21-14 win over Arizona State in the championship.

Reporting to the Martinsville Phillies of the Appalachian League are third baseman Ben Jewson (11th), pitcher Matt Bailie (22nd) and second baseman Len Hannahan (31st).